


Little Victories

by ioanite



Series: The Misadventures of the Cancelled Ioan Characters Brigade [2]
Category: Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007), Hornblower (TV)
Genre: Crack, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:50:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4696283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ioanite/pseuds/ioanite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life goes on and torches are passed, but when things don't go quite as planned, a few people like to indulge in a little bit of schadenfreude...</p>
<p>A sequel of sorts to "Commiserations".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Little Victories

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I figured after I responded to the Fantastic Four reboot when it was first announced, I might as well respond to it after it came out, especially since "Former characters Ioan's played hanging out together" seems to have become a thing in my imagination as of late. No guarantees that I'll ever return to this universe, but it's fun to play in occasionally.

Hornblower tightened his fingers around his glass of port as a laugh that could only be described as maniacal ran though the dining room for the fifth time. Glancing apologetically at his drinking companion, Hornblower turned in his chair and glared up at the perpetrator. “Richards, if you keep that up, people are going to think you were the villain of the piece.”

“Mock me all you want, Hornblower,” Reed Richards answered, entwining his upper body around the chandelier before taking another swig of beer, “Your barbs aren’t going to have any effect on me tonight. This is too glorious for you to ruin.” He cackled again and rocked the chandelier back and forth. “Eight percent. Eight percent!”

Hornblower shook his head. “At least have the dignity to gloat in a more refined manner. You’re supposed to be the mature one, remember?”

“Oh, come on, Hornblower,” Richards snorted, “Are you telling me you wouldn’t be doing the same thing in my position?”

Hornblower took a moment to consider. “Perhaps,” he acknowledged at last, “But I suppose it would depend how badly the new adaptation had missed the point. Besides, it would be tempered by the knowledge that its existence would make it difficult if not impossible for Ioan to bring me back properly.”

“For you, perhaps,” Richards said dismissively, “But in the world of comics, anything’s possible. Alternate dimension, some sort of magic spell…they could retcon it in all sorts of ways.”

“And if they _did_ offer the role back to Ioan, then what?” Hornblower said, “There’s a chance they’d drop him straight into the Civil War plot, where you were at your absolute worst. Do you really want that?”

Richards’ gleeful expression wavered for a moment, which he tried to cover up as a shrug. “They’re already filming that. It would probably be hard to rewrite the script at this point. Besides, there’s no guarantee the rights will revert back to Marvel. They could just pick up where we left off.”

Hornblower smiled slightly. “Cling to that hope, if you want. After all, it’s what I’ve been doing on and off since 2003. It’ll be nice to have someone who shares my pain.”

Reed rolled his eyes and swung down from the chandelier. “If you’re going to be insufferable, I’ll just take my celebrations elsewhere. I know four other people who will happily revel in this with me.”

“Enjoy,” Hornblower said mildly, “And do try not to do any drunken science. Your replacement tried that, and look how that ended up.”

Richards just raised a finger in Hornblower’s direction and headed for the door. Hornblower shook his head again and turned back to his companion. “I’m sorry about that.”

“Is he…always like this?” the doctor asked, glancing cautiously at the door.

“Overenthusiastically gleeful? No. Condescendingly smug? Yes. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it. And then you start figuring out the little jabs that can deflate that ego of his. Trust me, Dr. Morgan, you’ll fit right in. Besides, we could use someone with your life experience…”


End file.
